Canaries Complete First Sweep Of Season

Cleburne, TX

The Sioux Falls Canaries wrapped up their first series sweep of the 2017 season after defeating the Cleburne Railroaders by the final score of 7-5 in 11 innings on Sunday Afternoon at the Depot at Cleburne Station.

Canaries starting pitcher Troy Marks held the Railroaders scoreless over the first four innings, but ran into trouble in the bottom of the 5th. The right-hander gave up a lead-off double to Axel Johnson and walked Brandon Tierney before Alex Polston hit an RBI single into right. Tierney scored two batters later on a Ermindo Escobar single to make it a 3-2 ball game.

The Railroaders took a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the 6th inning when Johnson hit a two-run homer over the right-field wall. Cleburne extended their lead to 5-3 in the bottom of the 7th when Mitch Glasser scored on a Blake Grant-Parks infield single that bounced off of 3rd base umpire Trevor Gibson.

The Canaries tied the game up at 5-5 in the top of the 9th inning when Jabari Henry hit a two-run home run (4) over the left-field wall. The game remained tied until the top of the 11th inning when B.J. Guinn reached base on a one out walk. Dan Motl survived a 13 pitch at-bat before singling into center field to put two men on base for Henry, who roped a two-run double off the wall in left to put the Birds back in front for good at 7-5.

Relief pitcher Jose Ortega picked up his second win of the season after working a scoreless bottom of the 10th inning. Andrew Woeck picked up his first safe after a 1-2-3 bottom of the 11th.

Henry finished the day 5-for-6 with a double, a home run (4) and 4 RBI. Henry has now hit safely in six straight games, going 15-for-26 (.577 AVG) with 2 doubles, 4 home runs, 10 RBI and 4 runs scored. Jacobs hit his 9th home run of the season in Sunday’s win and is currently second in the American Association in homers this season.

With the win on Sunday, the Sioux Falls Canaries improved their overall record to 13-16 on the season. The Birds won their third consecutive series win, and secured their first series sweep of the 2017 season. The Canaries are 8-2 over their last 10 games, and are currently on their third three-game winning streak over the last seven days.

The Canaries return home on Monday, June 19th when they open up a three-game series against their North Division rivals, the St. Paul Saints. Come out to the Birdcage early on Monday night for Coca-Cola Monday. Fans will enjoy $1 hotdogs and $1 Coca-Cola products all game long. RHP Miles Nordgren (1-1, 4.61 ERA) will make his 6th start of the season in the series opener against St. Paul Saints starting pitcher Mark Hamburger (4-1, 3.14 ERA).

The Birdcage gates open at 6:00 p.m. with first pitch scheduled for 7:05. For information on single game tickets, contact the Canaries Ticket office at (605).336.606 or visit sfcanaries.com for more information.